


Planetary (Go!)

by track_04



Category: SS501
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-17
Updated: 2011-01-17
Packaged: 2017-11-14 17:37:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/517809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/track_04/pseuds/track_04
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hyung Jun always imagined that space would be a bit more adventure and a bit less boredom and bad food and irritating roommates. Boy, was he wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Planetary (Go!)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dream_of_orange](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=dream_of_orange).



> Written for 2010's Gyongo_SS. Reposted from LJ. Name taken from MCR song of the same name. Special thanks to snoozingkitten for all her encouragement (and pulling me down into the seedy world of K-Pop to begin with).

"Did you remember to pack your toothbrush?"

"Yes, mom. It _and_ the two extras that you left in my room last week. Along with the new packs of socks and underwear and the flares and the emergency space survival guide." Hyung Jun gave his mother his best innocent, obedient son look and bit back a smile. Not an easy feat when he could hear his little brother sniggering softly from somewhere behind him.

"Is something funny, Ki Bum?" Their mother pulled away from where she'd been busy inspecting Hyung Jun's bag and straightened, shooting her youngest son a warning look.

"You're overreacting, mom. It's not like he's never been away from home before."

"Ki Bum," Hyung Jun hissed softly, turning to give his brother a pleading look. He really didn't need to spend his last night at home listening to his mom and his brother bickering.

"What? It's true." Ki Bum turned to where their mom was still staring at them with a pinched look. "He's not even going to be gone that long, Mom. Stop worrying."

"Don't tell me not to worry," she snapped then sighed, her shoulders sagging a little as she looked from Hyung Jun to his brother and then back again. "I know you think I'm overreacting, but this isn't the same as flying to Japan on a vacation or a school trip. It's _space_. Anything could happen out there."

"But it won't." Hyung Jun reached out, laying a hand against her shoulder and earning a weak smile in return. "I'll be fine, Mom. It's a good ship and you know Captain Park wouldn't let anything happen to me."

"She'd better not or she'll have _me_ to deal with."

"And no one wants that," Ki Bum supplied helpfully, earning himself a half-hearted slap on the arm and a grudging smile from their mother for his troubles.

"I'll be fine, Mom. I promise. And I'll call home as much as they let me."

"I know. It's just hard, admitting your little boy's growing up."

He gave her shoulder a slight squeeze and laughed softly. "Well, there's always Ki Bum. He'll never grow up--ow!"

"You're just jealous because I'm the favorite."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Boys!" Their mother shook her head and smiled at them in that fond, slightly exasperated way that she always used when they were being particularly stupid and endearing. "Do I need to put you both in separate corners?"

"No, Mom."

"Good. Now go be useful and go pick up what we need for dinner from the store. I left a list on the table."

"Yes, Mom." Hyung Jun answered as Ki Bum echoed him. There was a brief pause where he shot his brother a look and he could feel his mouth twitching upwards into a grin. "First one outside gets to drive."

Ki Bum returned his smile as they both turned in unison, jostling each other on the way out the door.

-o-

Space wasn't anything like Hyung Jun had imagined it would be. It was vast and beautiful and sometimes when he glanced out of the tiny window in his cabin at the endless expanse of stars around him, it took his breath away, sure. But it was also cold and sort of mundane and a little disappointing. The shuttle that he'd been on for the three days it took to get from planet side to the space dock where the Five-Oh-One was waiting for her crew was old and full of so many holes that he was actually pretty shocked they'd made it through the atmosphere in one piece. The floors and ceilings also made weird creaking noises at night, and there was never enough light in the cabin he'd been given to see properly, and the food was terrible. The living quarters were beyond cramped and his bunk was old and lumpy and uncomfortable and, worst of all, the telecom was on the fritz, so he had no way of calling home and assuring his mother that he was still alive and in one piece.

He was also the only person on the shuttle under the age 30, which meant there was no one to talk to, and by the beginning of the third day even the view out his cabin window had stopped being impressive and started to just be the same old stars over and over and over again. In all the years that he'd spent dreaming about what it would be like to finally go into space and building it up in his mind, he'd never once thought that it would be so boring. In all the movies he'd watched and books and articles he'd read about people who lived and worked in space, no one had ever once mentioned just how little there was to do in your free time.

He was half-considering cutting his losses and hitching a ride back home and forgetting all this space silliness when they finally reached the space dock. He was feeling just bad enough for himself by that point that he didn't rush to the windows with the other passengers as soon as it came into view, instead staying curled up in the old, musty smelling chair that he'd managed to claim for himself in the common area, his nose shoved into a book, eyes moving across the pages without really seeing the words.

Eventually, though, all the oohs and ahhs piqued his curiosity and drew him over with the rest of the crowd to catch his first glimpse of the dock, a large patchwork of metal and lights and movement suspended out in the middle of that same vast nothingness they'd all been staring at for days.

And, okay, Hyung Jun had to admit that that? That was maybe more what he'd imagined space to be like, all sleek lines and shiny metal and _movement_. He stood next to the window, staring out and watching it draw closer long after the other passengers had wandered off in search of food or to make sure all their belongings were in order.

Space was still a little lonely, but staring out that window, watching the freighters and passenger ships zip around the dock, pulling in and out one after the other, he thought that maybe it at least wasn't quite as boring as he'd thought. And, really, six months wasn't such a long time. He could handle it.

Besides, if he went crawling home now Ki Bum would never let him live it down.

-o-

A few hours later, after they'd docked and Hyung Jun had been whisked away by a gruff-looking man and herded onto a ship that looked only slightly less holey than the shuttle he'd just come from, he was starting to rethink things again. The ship was bigger than the shuttle, but Hyung Jun really wouldn't have called it that much more impressive, what with the dents in the dull metal flooring and the obvious patch jobs that he could make out on the hull. When he'd signed up to work on the Five-Oh-One, he'd been expecting something sleek and shiny and new, not a bulky, clunky looking ship that he highly doubted could make it from here back to planet side in one piece, let alone to the edge of the galaxy. For a ship with such a good reputation in the space salvage business, it certainly wasn't very impressive.

Of course, he didn't voice any of these thoughts to the man guiding him through the unfamiliar hallways down to the crew cabins, half-afraid that if he did the other would take offense and wait until they'd taken off and chuck him out the air lock the first chance he got. He sort of looked the type. Or at least if this were a movie about a boy venturing into space for the first time and not real life, he would have been the type.

"This one's yours." The man stopped in front of a door that looked exactly like the dozens of others lining the narrow hallways and rapped once before pushing it open. "New crew all have to double up, so you don't get your own space. You have a problem with your bunk mate, you work it out between yourselves, you got it? No one else has time to deal with squabbling or solve your problems for you. If you want to be part of this crew, you gotta learn to get along with the others."

"Yes, sir." Hyung Jun nodded, wondering if he should salute or do something else to show that he understood. The man somehow seemed to know what he was thinking and sighed, his expression softening into something that was more frown than scowl as he waved at the door, motioning him inside.

"Well, you'd best get unpacked. Dinner's at 18:00 sharp in the Mess Hall, first come, first serve. You don't want to be late."

"I won't. Thank you." Hyung Jun swallowed, throwing the man a nervous smile as he slid around him and into his cabin, squinting slightly in the dim light. He heard the door swing shut behind him and let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, his shoulders sagging as he dropped his bags--all three of them, which was about two too many, but his mom had _insisted_ \--onto the floor.

Maybe if he hurried he could get unpacked and get a call in to his family before dinner. If he was talking to them he'd be much less tempted to find his way back off the ship and onto a shuttle headed for home. Probably, anyway.

"Those bags aren't going to unpack themselves, you know."

Hyung Jun jumped and spun around at the sound of the voice, stumbling over one of his bags and very nearly managing to fall on his ass in the process. Luckily, he managed to grab the side of one of the bunks--his bunk, he guessed, since it was the one that was currently empty--and regain his footing at the last second, saving himself at least that small bit of humiliation.

A boy with hair dyed a deep auburn and a long face sat on the bunk across from him, one leg pulled up beneath him and the other dangling off the edge as he smirked at Hyung Jun, eyeing him in a way that made him feel distinctly uncomfortable. "Well, are you going to unpack or not?"

"I--yeah, of course." Hyung Jun let go of the side of the bunk and started to move towards his bags but stopped, his eyebrows drawing into a frown as he looked back the other. "Who are you, anyway?"

"The poor sap who got stuck being your roommate."

Hyung Jun blinked, not sure whether or not he should be offended. It was a rude thing to say, but the other boy's expression and tone were so matter-of-fact that he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "I thought all the new crew members had to share cabins."

"They do, but I'm not new crew. I've been here for five years and had this cabin all to myself until you came along and they decided you needed a bunk mate."

"Five years?" Hyung Jun frowned. "You don't look old enough to have been here that long."

"I'm nineteen."

"Ships don't take on crew that are younger than sixteen," Hyung Jun pointed out, some of his confusion fading, slowly replaced by annoyance. Not only was his bunk mate rude, but he was apparently a liar, too. "There's no way you've been here that long."

"I'm just that good. They had to have me." The other boy smirked.

"Right." Hyung Jun rolled his eyes and turned towards his bags, trying not to let his irritation show on his face. The last thing he needed was to get into a fight with his bunk mate when he hadn't even been on the ship for five minutes. Even if the other seemed hell bent on trying to start one.

There was a soft snort of laughter behind him and then the sound of a mattress shifting. When the other boy spoke again it sounded slightly closer, like he was leaning forward on his bunk toward Hyung Jun, watching him. "You brought a copy of _The Emergency Guide to Space Survival_ , really? You do realize that this is about twenty years out of date, right?"

"My mom wanted me to bring it. It made her feel better, okay?" Hyung Jun sighed and turned to give the other an annoyed look, scowling instead when he saw that he was holding the aforementioned book, thumbing through it disdainfully. Hyung Jun reached out and snatched it from him with more force than was strictly necessary. "Don't touch my stuff."

"Wouldn't dream of it." The other boy held his hands out in front of him and slumped back against the wall behind his bunk again, still smirking. "So I take it your mom's never been off planet before?"

"Of course she has. She and my dad took a cruise around the outer rim for their honeymoon."

"Space cruises don't really count." The other boy snorted and gave Hyung Jun a look that could only be described as superior. "What about you? You been on any space cruises before?"

Hyung Jun scowled and shook his head, the movement jerky. Just his luck, to get stuck with a bunk mate who was a grade A asshole. Six months was starting to sound like a long time again. "No. This is my first time out."

"Well, I _never_ would have guessed."

"Look--" Hyung Jun slapped his hands against his bag and turned, searching for a suitably scathing reply when the door to their cabin opened.

"Ah, Hyung Jun. I see you found your quarters."

"I... yes, ma'am...Captain." Hyung Jun dropped whatever he was going to say and stood, snapping off a quick, if slightly sloppy, salute and earning a snicker from the boy in the other bed.

The captain shot the boy a stern look and then turned back to Hyung Jun with a smile. "We don't really bother with much formality on this ship. No need to bother with saluting."

"Yes, Captain." Hyung Jun nodded, flushing a little as he looked down at the floor.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad to see you got made it here safely." Hyung Jun glanced back up in time to catch her smile. "Your mother will be glad to hear it, too. I think she was a bit worried when she didn't hear from you."

"She didn't call here, did she?" The captain nodded slightly in answer and Hyung Jun groaned, resisting the urge to cover his face in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Captain. I told her I'd call from the shuttle but the telecom was down--"

"It's okay. I explained how bad the coms on the older shuttles are and promised I'd have you call when you arrived."

"Thank you, Captain."

"It was no trouble. I can understand why she was worried. Mothers do that, you know."

"Because you're all crazy," the boy on the bed muttered and the captain turned to frown at him.

"Only because our children made us that way." She sighed and turned to smile at Hyung Jun. "I see you've already met Jung Min. I hope he hasn't been giving you a hard time."

"Uh, no. He hasn't." Hyung Jun smiled, the expression feeling strained. It wasn't like he could just tell the captain that his new bunk mate was a royal pain in the ass, anyway. He doubted whining that the person he had to share his room with was mean first thing would make a very good impression.

"I know he's a pain in the ass, but thank you for not saying so."

"Thanks, Mom," The other boy--Jung Min, apparently--said with a soft snort.

"I just try to tell it like it is, son."

"He's your son?" Hyug Jun blurted out before he could stop himself, looking vaguely horrified.

"Yes. And if he gives you any trouble--" Jung Min made what sounded like the beginning of a protest and the captain shot him a look, effectively silencing him. "--you can come to me."

"I... okay. I mean, yes, Captain."

"Good." She looked from Hyung Jun to her son and then back again, giving him a quick nod and a smile. "Now, I need to attend to some things before dinner, but I just wanted to be sure you'd arrived and were getting settled in."

Hyung Jun nodded, smiling nervously. "I am. Thanks, Captain."

"I'm just glad to have you on board." She smiled, the expression warm and friendly enough that it eased some of the worry that had been coiling in the pit of his stomach. "Jung Min can take you to call your mother and then show you were the mess hall is for dinner. It's better if you get there early. The only thing worse than ship food is cold ship food."

Hyung Jun laughed softly, his smile widening a little. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You'd better." She smiled in return, shooting Jung Min one last sharp look before she turned and slipped through the door, leaving the two boys alone in an awkward (well, awkward for Hyung Jun, at least) silence.

Jung Min was the first to break it, sighing heavily and sounding very put upon as he rose from his bunk and gave Hyung Jun a slightly sour look. "Well, come on. If you want to make that call before dinner we'd better go do it now."

Even if he wanted to be contrary, Hyung Jun couldn't really think of a reason to argue with that, so he just nodded and followed the other boy out the door.

-o-

It had taken a few weeks, but Hyung Jun was finally starting to get used to the ins and outs of space life. Not just his job on the ship--which was the kind of mindless low-level job that bordered on slave labor that everyone had to start with before they worked their way up the food chain--but the everyday things that he'd taken for granted at home that were completely different when you were off planet. Like the lack of sunlight to tell time by, and the perpetually stale air aboard the ship, and the lack of food that wasn't freeze dried or out of a can, to name a few.

Slowly, though, he found himself getting used to it and adjusting bit by bit until, eventualy, he mostly stopped noticing how different everything was and just started accepting it as the way things were, incorporating all the small changes into his daily routine. He still missed trees and grass and being able to see a sunset, but he'd found that there were things to make up for it, too, like the cook's hot cocoa recipe (the ingredients of which were a secret, but it seemed safer _not_ knowing, anyway), or the days when he got to suit up to help out on scrap runs and he got to spend hours wandering around abandoned ships, poking through all their nooks and crannies in search of salvageable parts. There was also the cold beauty of the stars, which he was starting to appreciate again now that he was feeling a tiny bit less homesick and overwhelmed. It was still a lonely sort of beauty, but that didn't make it any less beautiful, or encourage him to spend any less of his free time standing by the windows in the common room, staring out at it.

The amount of time that he spent staring out at the stars over those first few weeks was something that Jung Min seemed to find endlessly amusing, although Hyung Jun wasn't really sure why. Then again, Jung Min seemed to find everything about him endlessly amusing, like he thought that Hyung Jun was one big walking punchline. It was irritating, but it had only taken about a week for Hyung Jun to realize that getting irritated with Jung Min just seemed to make things worse, like he was giving the other what he wanted. After that he'd just forced himself to think of it as one of those things he had to deal with here, like the bad lighting or the stale air, and had learned to let it slide.

Well, sort of, anyway. Jung Min was still as much, if not more, irritating than he'd been when Hyung Jun had first met him, but Hyung Jun had since perfected the art of avoiding him at all costs. He saw him when they had to work together, which was more often than he would have liked, and in those brief moments at night before they went to sleep, and in the morning as they were scrambling to get ready for the day, but for the most part he'd learned to just not be wherever Jung Min was if he could help it.

It sucked, in a way, since Jung Min was the only other person here who was even close to his age and avoiding him didn't really leave him with many other people to talk to, but it was what he had to do to preserve his sanity, not to mention keep his job. Whatever the captain had said, he didn't really think she'd take that kindly to one of the crew members slugging her son (no matter how much he was asking for it), and if Hyung Jun was forced to spend much more time around Jung Min, he knew that would be the end result. So, avoiding him was just safer for everyone involved.

For his part, Jung Min seemed to realize pretty quickly just how hard Hyung Jun was trying to avoid him and liked to try to make said avoiding as difficult as possible, popping up at odd hours in unexpected places just to irritate him. It was like some strange game of hide and seek that they were playing, but since Hyung Jun was fairly certain he was currently winning since he managed to avoid the other more than the other managed to find him, he wasn't going to complain. At least not where Jung Min could hear him.

And the rest of the crew seemed either not to notice or care about this strange game of cat and mouse they had going on, with Hyung Jun running in one direction and Jung Min chasing after him, all sly smiles and irritating comments, so Hyung Jun was content to just say it was what it was and leave it at that for now.

"You know the reception would be better in your quarters than it is down here."

Hyung Jun jumped, half-tensed and ready for a fight as he looked up, fully expecting to see Jung Min standing there, smirking down at him. He was mildly shocked to find the captain there instead. His expression turned guilty as he slipped off his head phones and rested his vid screen against his knees. "Yes, ma'am. I just thought it would be nice to sit out here instead."

"You love the cargo hold that much, do you?" She smiled, the expression fond as she took a seat on the crate beside him. "Can't get enough of the smell of oil and scrap metal?"

"No, ma'am." He laughed softly, the sound soft and slightly embarrassed. He liked the captain. She was tough but friendly, and she'd gone out of her way to make sure he was settling into life on the ship and felt like part of the team. He knew that it wasn't something that she had to do--or that most captains bothered doing, really--and he appreciated it. It just made him feel really bad sometimes for not being able to stand her son.

"Keep saying things like that and in a few years no one will ever know that you weren't born on a ship."

"I don't know about that. I've still got a lot to learn."

"You'll manage. You've been doing a good job so far. Just don't tell the other crew I said so--it'll ruin my reputation as a hard ass."

"I won't say a word."

"Good." She laughed and turned to look at him, her expression thoughtful. "You know, I owe you an apology."

"An apology? For what?"

"My son." Hyung Jun opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off with a wave of her hand and a rueful smile. "I know that he's not the easiest person to bunk wit,' and he hasn't exactly been making things easy on you. I doubt you'd feel the need to spend your free time in the cargo hold if he was being a good bunk mate."

"I... he's not that bad." Hyung Jun shrugged, the words sounding unconvincing even to his own ears.

"He is and he knows it." She sighed, shaking her head slightly. "And I'm sorry you've had to deal with it. I know it wasn't very fair to throw you together just because you're the same age, but I thought you might be good for him."

"You thought _I_ might be good for _him_?"

"Despite my son's opinion of himself, he still has a lot to learn." She laughed softly as Hyung Jun tried to keep his expression neutral. "Don't get me wrong, he's a smart kid and a good crew member, but growing up on a ship like this doesn't really teach you much about making friends your own age. And if there's one thing you need out here, it's friends. It gets a little lonely otherwise."

Hyung Jun nodded slowly. "I guess so."

"He's been worse than usual since his sister decided to move planet side last year. I thought maybe if he was bunking with someone his own age he'd be a little less insufferable, but that doesn't seem to be the case."

"It could be worse. We leave each other alone, mostly."

"Yeah, you're pretty good at avoiding him."

"I didn't think anyone else had noticed." Hyung Jun admitted a bit guiltily.

"On a ship this size, everyone notices everything, trust me. There are no secrets here." She laughed. "It's not like he hasn't been asking for it, anyway."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"I don't blame you for it, Hyung Jun." She stood and patted him the shoulder, smiling down at him gently. "But if I were you, I wouldn't let him fool me, either. He's really not as bad as he'd like you to think he is. And he does like you."

"He really knows how to show it." Hyung Jun snorted in disbelief, his mouth running off before his brain could think better of it.

"He doesn't and that's part of the problem," the captain agreed, shaking her head. "But you'll have to just trust me on this one."

"I... yes, ma'am." Hyung Jun swallowed, meeting the captain's eyes briefly before she turned and walked away, leaving him alone in the cargo hold with his vid screen and a mess of confusion.

-o-

Things didn't really change much over the next few weeks. Hyung Jun continued to get acclimated to life in space, learning the ropes and further cementing his place among the crew, and kept avoiding Jung Min as much as possible. The conversation with the captain hadn't really fixed anything between them or made Jung Min magically easier to tolerate, and they really weren't any closer to being friends.

It had, however, made Hyung Jun look at Jung Min from a slightly different angle. Now when the other made comments about his hair or his taste in music or his ability to tell the difference between an air lock seal and a drive shaft belt, it seemed a bit less like the insults that he'd always taken them for and more like some strange attempt at teasing. Like Jung Min thought that if he badgered Hyung Jun enough that they'd somehow wind up friends. Like teasing him was the only way he knew how to communicate his interest in being friends.

It was kind of annoying and a lot like something he would have expected from a third grader, but it also made sense when he stopped to think about it. It sort of reminded him of his relationship with his brother, all thinly veiled insults and teasing affection. Jung Min wasn't his brother (thank god--Ki Bum was more than enough to deal with on his own), and Hyung Jun still couldn't stand him a lot of the time, but he was starting to think that maybe if he stuck around here long enough and the stars aligned just right, that someday they could be something sort of resembling friends.

Sometimes, anyway.

The rest of the time he just wanted to kill him. Like now.

"So, who's the love letter from? You have a girl planet side that you don't want any one to know about?" Jung Min flopped onto the bunk beside him, ignoring Hyung Jun's scowl as he leaned over, trying to snatch the card out of his hands. When Hyung Jun didn't rise to the bait he grinned and tried again. "Or a boyfriend, maybe?"

"None of your business." Hyung Jun leaned away from him, his scowl deepening as he closed the card and stuffed it under his pillow. It wasn't like it was really a big deal if Jung Min saw it--it was just a birthday message from his family and hardly incriminating, aside from a few embarrassing comments from his brother and his mom being, well, a mom--but it was the principle of the matter. If Jung Min would have just asked instead of being an ass about it, maybe he would have felt more like sharing.

"Oh, come on." Jung Min leaned closer, smiling his most irritating smile as he reached around him and tried to slide his hand under his pillow. "It's not like you can keep it a secret forever. You might as well tell me."

"It's none of your business," Hyung Jun repeated, catching the other's wrist and shoving it away from his pillow with a soft huff.

"You're no fun." Jung Min sighed, rolling his eyes as he pulled his hand back to himself and leaned against the wall, settling in with a look that Hyung Jun knew meant he wasn't going anywhere soon. To add insult to injury, he draped his legs over the bunk and started to swing them, shaking the bedframe beneath them with the movement.

"Do you mind not doing that? You're shaking the bed." Hyung Jun leaned over, grabbing his vid screen off the night stand and trying not to rise to the other's bait.

"No, I don't mind."

Hyung Jun slipped on his headphones without bothering to answer, pulling up a movie at random and doing his best to pretend like he was actually paying attention to it while Jung Min stepped up his efforts to annoy him, scooting a bit closer and peering at the screen over his shoulder. He was leaning close enough that Hyung Jun had to fight the urge to pull away, all the while still swinging his legs, his feet knocking against the bed frame in a rhythm that was just irregular enough to be especially irritating. Hyung Jun managed to make it through a full five minutes of this before he finally snapped, pushing his headphones down and turning to the other with an annoyed look.

"If I show you the damn card will you leave me alone?"

Jung Min smiled at him, the look full of enough feigned innocence to make Hyung Jun nervous. "Depends on what it says."

"Jung Min--"

"Calm down. Show me the card and I'll leave you alone. I promise."

"Fine." Hyung Jun sighed and reached under his pillow, pulling out the card and holding it out to the other, waiting until he took it to pull his headphones back on and turn his attention back to his vid screen. He stared down at it and tried to focus on whatever inane drama was going on in the movie he had playing, one of the ones that he was fairly sure that Ki Bum had loaded for him before he left as some sort of statement about Hyung Jun's manhood (or lack thereof), and tried not to be on edge as he waited for whatever scathing comment or insult that Jung Min was going to throw his way.

It was a bit of a surprise when, instead, the other finished reading a few minutes later and handed him the card back to him, climbing off his bunk without so much as a word.

Hyung Jun frowned as he pulled off his headphones and shot Jung Min a confused look. "What, you're not going to say anything?"

Jung Min turned to look at him, cocking his head slightly to one side. "It's your birthday?"

"Not until next Thursday," Hyung Jun mumbled, not sure what to make of the look the other was giving him. It wasn't teasing or sly or any of the things that he was used to seeing; it was almost... thoughtful. "My mom wasn't sure when we'd be at port and able to get the mail, though, so she sent a card early."

"You never mentioned it."

"What, the card? I didn't know I was supposed to tell you every time I got mail."

"No, your birthday." Jung Min frowned slightly and Hyung Jun shrugged, a little put off by the lack of sarcasm.

"I didn't think it mattered. It's not a big deal."

"Yeah." Jung Min shrugged as he snatched his handheld from the table by his bunk and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I promised I'd leave you alone, didn't I?" He paused by the door, shooting Hyung Jun a smile over his shoulder. "I thought I'd go hang out in the common room for a bit, give you some privacy."

"Uh... thanks." Hyung Jun returned the smile, his own confused and grateful.

Jung Min shrugged, his smile shifting into a more familiar smirk. "Just don't enjoy it too much. And if you're going to watch porn, don't do it on my bunk." He winked as he slipped out the door, leaving Hyung Jun spluttering at the empty space he left behind.

-o-

Things were more or less the same after that. Hyung Jun ate and slept and worked, and the work load on the ship picked up enough that it was all he could do just to fit in a shower before bed or a short call home every few days. He didn't really have much time to worry about Jung Min or think about their strange exchange. He had even less time to sit back and wonder if maybe things weren't changing a little and if Jung Min's teasing was starting to seem less annoying and more like another, almost welcome, part of his routine.

He was so busy that he didn't even have time to notice when his birthday finally rolled around, the fourteen hour day he'd spent helping haul scrap out of a cluster of old freighters they'd found out in neutral territory killing any urge he might have had to celebrate, if he'd bothered remembering that there was something to celebrate. By the time he got back to the ship and ate and showered, all he wanted to do was collapse into his bunk and sleep for a week.

Which of course meant that he'd barely had time to start drifting off when Jung Min saw fit to shake him awake again.

"Wh--what?" Hyung Jun jerked awake at the first touch to his shoulder, only managing by some sort of miracle not to roll off the edge of the bunk in his confusion.

"Rise and shine."

"Jung Min? Did I oversleep?" He blinked and rubbed at his eyes, wondering how it could possibly be time for work again already. "I feel like I just went to sleep..."

"You did." Jung Min snorted, sounding entirely too perky considering he'd been right beside Hyung Jun all day, elbow deep in pieces of old ships. "But you need to get up again."

He groaned, scowling as he flopped back onto his pillow and threw an arm across his eyes. "No way. I'm tired and I'm going to bed."

"Come on." Hyung Jun felt the mattress dip slightly as Jung Min sat on the edge and slapped him in the side. "I have something to show you."

"Can't it wait until morning?"

"It won't be there in the morning."

Hyung Jun huffed softly as he uncovered his eyes, giving Jung Min the dirtiest look he could muster. "You're not going to leave me alone unless I come with you, are you?"

"Nope." Jung Min grinned and rose from the bed, offering him his hand. Hyung Jun stared at it for a long moment before he sighed and took it, letting the other help him to his feet.

"I swear, if this isn't good, I'm going to kill you."

"Oh, trust me, it will be." Jung Min's grin widened as he shifted his hand up to grip Hyung Jun's wrist and tugged him towards the door.

-o-

"Okay, this was worth it."

"Told you so."

Hyung Jun laughed and pulled his legs up against his chest, sinking further back against the back of the old, battered couch, his shoulder brushing Jung Min's while they stared out the common room windows together. Outside he could see the edge of the planet they'd been circling for the past few days--some tiny hunk of rock that was really only suitable for a mining or a prison colony, or perhaps some combination of the two--half of it glowing a soft orange from the light cast by its sun and the other half covered in darkness. It wasn't a terribly interesting planet to look, but it wasn't really the planet he was paying attention to. Instead, he was staring at the streaks of light rushing towards it, two, sometimes three or four at a time, bright and beautiful against the sprawling black of space. They looked a little bit like ships pulling into dock or what Hyung Jun imagined people used to imagine UFOs looked like, back before they'd really started to venture out into the stars.

They were beautiful and awesome in a way that made him feel somehow both less significant and a bit special--like he could spend his entire life out here and still only understand a fraction of went on, but it was still okay, because seeing some of it was better than seeing none at all.

It was what he'd daydreamed about, all those years that he'd spent thinking about space and wanting so badly to come here.

He smiled at the thought and turned to look at Jung Min, watching him for a long moment before he bothered speaking. "Thanks for dragging me out here."

Jung Min shrugged and turned, offering him a lopsided smile. "What kind of a roommate would I bet if I let you sleep through your first meteor shower in space? And on your birthday, even."

"My birthday," Hyung Jun blinked, his smile widening. "I completely forgot."

"Well, don't get too excited. I didn't get you a present or anything."

Hyung Jun laughed and let his gaze drift back out the window. "This probably counts as a present, you know."

"Hm, I guess it does." Jung Min echoed the other's laughter. "Honestly, I just wanted to make sure you missed out on your beauty sleep. I can't have someone on the ship looking better than I do, you know."

"I should have known you had some sort of plan." Hyung Jun elbowed the other in the ribs, still grinning.

"Always." Jung Min elbowed him back, the smile on his face wide enough that Hyung Jun could hear it in his voice.

They fell silent after that, the minutes stretching out as they watched the streaks of light color the space around the dingy little planet out somewhere on the edge of the galaxy, but for the first time since he'd stepped off planet, Hyung Jun felt like maybe space wasn't such a lonely place. At least not when you had friends.

Which, of course, was something he'd never admit. Not out loud, anyway. Jung Min would just have to figure it out for himself.


End file.
